The curing of monomeric materials to produce thermoset resins is well known in the art. In general, the polymerizable monomers have at least one and customarily more than one reactive group which serves as a site for the curing or crosslinking polymerization to produce the cured products. There are some monomeric materials wherein the active sites are such that the monomer will cure upon application of energy, e.g., heat or high intensity UV light. In many if not most cases, however, a curing agent is necessary to allow the crosslinking reaction to proceed at an acceptable rate. The curing agents are employed in catalytic or stoichiometric amounts relative to the monomer to be crosslinked. The stoichiometric curing agents, i.e., agents which are provided in a substantial quantity relative to the quantity of the monomer, are the more commonly used and are typically multi-functional polymerizable compounds having a plurality of reactive groups capable of participating in crosslinking reactions. A mixture of the monomer and a curing agent, generally referred to as a thermosetting resin composition, is then cured by application of heat, with or without the presence of an accelerator which may be added to obtain a more acceptable rate. Thermosetting resins containing cyanato moieties are known in the art. Poly(cyanato) compounds react with a variety of curing agents to produce thermoset resins having good properties.
Certain of the thermosetting resin compositions have polymerizable monomers which are cyclic in character. The cured products resulting therefrom are often characterized by relatively high glass transition temperatures. Such materials demonstrate dimensional stability in applications where elevated temperatures are likely to be encountered. It would be of advantage to provide a novel class of polycyclic polymerizable monomers which cure by reaction with curing agents to provide cured, crosslinked thermoset products of relatively high glass transition temperature.